Simeone hails impact of Diego at Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has stressed just how important his namesake is to the team as they chase success both domestically and in Europe.

Diego, the Brazilian signed in the January transfer window from Wolfsburg, has had a major impact on maintaining the capital side's push to break the monotony and stranglehold held by Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain's La Liga.

"There's Raul, Koke, Villa, Arda, but the arrival of Diego gives us the possibility of balancing different ways of attacking . The team doesn't have just one way of doing that."

"With Diego we won the Europa League and had a superb second half to that season, but this team is very competitive," Simeone told reporters.

Atletico won 3-0 against Valladolid at the weekend to keep up their title challenge.